In 1996, Scotiabank International unveiled plans to establish charitable foundations in countries where it had a presence.

Inside the global network of this financial titan, the Jamaican operation was a standout. It consistently ranked in the top tier of profit performers and its deep brand penetration in the local market was outmatched only by the public goodwill it engendered.

An exemplar of business prudence, Scotiabank Jamaica was also a leader among its financial sector peers for its best-practice banking procedures and general corporate culture.

It should hardly come as a surprise that the Canadians chose Jamaica as the launching pad for their invigorated foray in corporate social responsibility. The decision and the wave of charity that it unlocked provided welcome relief for a country that was in the throes of rapid currency devaluation and economic pain.

The ScotiaFoundation was seeded with a J$100 million endowment from Canada – the equivalent of more than $400 million at current prices. Its mandate was simple: the capital should be invested and the income flows provide support in perpetuity for the work of the foundation.

Over the years, Scotiabank Jamaica has also independently injected millions of dollars into the foundation to help fund its many projects and causes, the price tag of these programmes exceeding $700 million since 2006.

Today, the foundation has $350 million in reserves, and in line with its mandate, will use the income stream from the investments for future charitable outreach.

The ScotiaFoundation is governed by a board of directors with the executive director, Joylene Griffiths, in charge of its day-to-day operation. Griffiths also holds the substantive title of ScotiaJamaica banking group director of corporate social responsibility.

Education and health are the priority areas that account for the bulk of Scotia’s expenditure on good causes, and by the bank’s own estimate more than 100,000 adults and children benefited from its philanthropy in 2015 alone.

Except for its scholarship programme – in which there are dozens of recipients – Scotia’s social responsibility outreach is funnelled through registered charitable organisations and other institutions. It extends to even supporting the causes that other private sector companies have championed, like the Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run, and the Grace and Staff Foundation.

On the education front, more than 100 students at secondary and tertiary institutions have had an easier pathway towards achieving their academic goals because of the Shining Star Scholarship programme promoted through the foundation. The bank also funds a chair in entrepreneurship and development at the University of Technology, Jamaica, an initiative that should open up a direct route for academia to shape the country’s business and economic transformation.

A significant portion of Scotia’s contribution to good causes will not reach the ultimate recipients with a tag bearing the bank’s identity, as it is channelled through some of the island’s most well-known charities. Among them:

• Jamaica Cancer Society

• Jamaica Society for the Blind

• Missionaries Of the Poor

• Salvation Army

• Food For the Poor

• Mustard Seed Communities.

These are only a few of the organisations that have made it their life’s mission to reach down to the poorest of the poor in Jamaica, and they have developed the expertise of consolidating financial contributions from philanthropic donors to spread benefits within the respective communities they serve.

Scotia is a big supporter of Government’s push to ensure that each Jamaican child receives early childhood education, and the bank plays its role primarily by ensuring that infant and primary schools are in a position to incentivise attendance by providing breakfast to their students.

When institutions seeking to tap into the foundation’s resources make their pitch, it immediately triggers a response matrix that has provable needs and potential community impact as its cornerstone. The bank’s due diligence that typically follows will also uncover critical details like whether the project will provide an opportunity for ScotiaVolunteers to play a role and if the potential beneficiary has the capacity to deliver on its promise.

The ScotiaVolunteers are the embodiment of a novel dimension to the bank’s charity outreach – the end product of a fundamental shift in the institution’s philosophy on how best to transform Jamaica through giving. Beginning in 2003, Scotia set out to infuse the country with the spirit of volunteerism and turned to its own staff to prime the process.

“All new staff members are introduced to the programme at staff orientation and allowed to sign up as volunteers,” explains Scotia in response to queries from the Jamaica Observer Business Leader programme. The aim is for them to “become involved in all projects carried out by the foundation or which the foundation supports”.

Scotia promotes the corporate ethos of giving back within its own ranks through a robust internal communication programme that keeps those who have volunteered up to date with the activities of the foundation, and organises an annual internal competition that recognises the work of those who have helped to advance the foundation’s mission.

One of their specific tasks is to help the foundation meet its mentorship commitment to recipients of scholarships.

“ScotiaVolunteers devote time and resources to students providing school supplies, assistance with homework, particularly SBAs (School-Based Assessments), and we allow all our ScotiaScholars to become volunteers and fulfil their community service requirements,” the company says.

The bank also has in place a monitoring and support system to give its scholarship recipients a good chance at succeeding by requiring them to submit term reports, CXC and CAPE results, and by providing mentorship to help those who are falling behind.

An important measure of the success of the volunteers is the response of the general public to the work that they undertake.

“ScotiaVolunteers are a known brand and they are now requested by other groups and organisations to assist in fundraising events,” the bank notes, citing the biennial Shaggy & Friends concert that raises money for medical charity as an example of an event for which the group can take some credit.

Currently, over 1,000 Scotiabank staff members participate in the volunteer programme, in addition to hundreds of their close family members and scholarship recipients.

There is yet another way in which Scotia has in effect leveraged its own charity outreach to draw public attention to the value and impact of volunteerism.

The bank sponsors a television programme called

The Teller in which virtual case studies in personal and business transformations are presented in real time to the public.

In some instances the stories are aired about small entrepreneurs who have been able to make breakthroughs because of the foundation’s intervention in their affairs. Then there are individuals who have achieved their life’s dream because of scholarships awarded to them and who get to share with Jamaica the ways in which they are now giving back to their communities.

The case in which a deaf scholar was awarded a scholarship to attend university, and another where a student underwent corrective scoliosis surgery while in high school and is now at Shortwood Teachers’ College, are among the stories that have placed real human faces to corporate beneficence that is so often reported as abstract statistics.

Scotia points out that its annual scholar reunion also provides an opportunity for scholarship recipients to meet and share their experiences.

“We have engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc coming back to this event to share their achievements and inspire the new and younger scholars.”

Scotia’s success in getting Jamaicans behind volunteerism has not gone unnoticed, and neither have its many charity endeavours aimed at improving the lives of infants and youth.

Last year, the bank mobilised members of its volunteer group to teach 4,000 students during teaching day, and also recorded successes in a separate programme aimed at helping pregnant girls return to a productive life. These projects contributed to the award that members of the wider Scotiabank family (in the Americas) received from US President Barack Obama.

The US President’s Volunteer Service Award recognises businesses that motivate their employees to engage in volunteerism, and Scotiabank’s workforce’s more than 5,000 hours of volunteer work across the American region in 2015 landed the company a bronze category recognition.

The year 2008 was also a big moment that provided another proof of concept for Scotia’s approach to the pursuit of charity when it was presented with the Jamaica Employers’ Federation (JEF) Corporate Social Responsibility Award for voluntary, positive initiatives and partnerships. The JEF award explicitly recognised that Scotia’s activities had resulted in community and marketplace development.

That same year, the foundation also received the Corporate Social Responsibility Award from the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica.

The following year AMCHAM Jamaica recognised the organisation for its corporate social responsibility work.

The foundation has also been cited on numerous occasions for the public good that it is has done through its video productions on road safety, and a range of developmental and health-related issues.

Moses Jackson is the founder of the Jamaica Observer Business Leader Award programme and the chairman of the Award Selection Committee. He may be reached at moseshbsjackson@yahoo.com